


Jaw's Revenge

by sandymg



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-25
Updated: 2014-05-25
Packaged: 2018-01-26 10:37:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1685306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandymg/pseuds/sandymg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam’s accidental wish with a cursed Babylonian coin throws Sam and Dean into a familiar yet strange new world.<br/>AU set during the events of Wendigo 1x02 and Wishful Thinking 4x08 and references Jump the Shark 4x19.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Jaw's Revenge

**_Prelude_ **

A life-size, suicidal teddy bear who was into skin magazines. Right. About the kind of case they would be running into these days. At least the bear had good taste in babes. End days indeed. Dean watched Sam play absently with the ancient Babylonian wishing coin that had caused this town so much mischief. All because a lonely geek had wanted a pretty girl to notice him. Maybe they really will inherit the Earth one day.

“That’s meek, not geek, Dean,” Sam corrected when Dean voiced this aloud.

“Whatever.”

“I’ll take it to be melted down,” Sam said.

“Want me to do it?” Dean extended his hand.

“I can handle it, Dean.”

“Coin’s dangerous, Sam … Maybe I ….”

Sam bitched before thinking, “Dammit Dean, just once I wish you’d stop treating me like your baby brother.”

Dean felt a hair trigger of panic. “Sam. Don’t.”

Too late.

**  
**

**Part 1**

Dean opened his eyes to chipmunks and deer and moose heads swarming in a circular pattern on the wall. His head felt full and mouth fuzzy. _Hangover?_ Opening one eye he spotted Sam stretched out in the other bed. It always jolted seeing how long Sam had become. In his mind’s eye he was smaller.

A moment of disorientation hit him. This wasn’t the room he last remembered. Granted there was a certain consistency to the tackiness of their lives but this wasn’t …

“Sam?”

His brother groaned.

“Get up. I think … something’s wrong.”

Sam sat up with a start and looked around, his eyes stopping on the third empty bed in the room. Odd, Dean thought, they always got a double.

“Where’s Adam?” Sam asked.

“Who?”

“Funny. Jerk. Now where the hell …”

The bathroom door opened and a tall, skinny teenager emerged wearing blue jeans and a tee-shirt bearing a flying saucer with the phrase _I Want to Believe._ The kid looked from Sam to Dean questioningly.

“Why are you both staring at me? Is there toothpaste on my face?”

Sam rose and threw Dean a nasty look. “You okay?” Sam asked the kid.

“Yeah. Sure.”

Seemingly pleased with this reply Sam padded into the bathroom leaving Dean to stare open-mouthed at the young stranger in their room.

“Dean. Ya wanna tell me why you’re still staring at me?”

“Adam?” Dean said tentatively.

The kid gave him a classic Sam bitchface and said, “What the hell, Dean? What’s up?”

Dean blinked, lowering his eyes from the strange boy’s almost familiar face. His mind raced. Who was this boy and why did Sam seem to know him? What had Dean been drinking last night?

“You know I think I maybe had a bit too much to drink last night. ‘S left me woozy. Care to remind me again, kid, who you are?”

Adam’s eyes widened about as big as the saucer on his shirt. Sam came back out of the bathroom just then and caught their staring match.

“Sam … something’s wrong with Dean.”

Sam walked closer to Adam and stood slightly in front of the kid in a way that was achingly familiar.

“You okay?” Concern gleamed in Sam’s eyes.

“Yeah. Fine. Just a bit … confused is all. I can’t remember where we met our young friend here.”

Adam clutched Sam’s arm like he was struck. Dean looked at the boy, it did feel like he _should_ know him, that much was true.

“Dean. This isn’t funny.”

“I’m not joking, Sam.”

Adam spoke, voice wobbly. “You don’t know me? Dean, I’m your brother.”

Okay. That familiar he wasn’t. Dean knew a few things for certain. His name was Dean Winchester, ghosts were real, and he had a single pain-in-the-ass little brother. And now that brother was hovering over this gangly kid like, well, like Dean used to hover over Sam.

“Sam. C’mon. John Winchester had two boys. There were no children after Mom died.”

Adam answered, “My mom is Kate. But we have the same dad. I’m your half-brother. How can you …?”

At Dean’s blank look Adam backed away, shrugging Sam’s hand off his shoulder.

Sam glared at him. “Nice. Dean. What the hell is wrong with you?!”

Dean sank back on the bed. Something was really, really wrong. A glamour? A Djinn? A spell? Or … was he finally going insane?

Sam thumped on the bed next to him. Adam sulked on the other side of the room. “Look, Dad gone missing is getting to all of us. I don’t remember what time you came in. You musta been drinking. You’ve been doing that too much lately.”

Adam walked over slowly, head down, and sat on his other side.

“Dad’ll be okay. You know him. We’ll stick together, the three of us and we’ll find him.”

Dean stared at the teen now barely a foot away. Adam’s eyes – they were Sam’s, down to the slant. His hair -- same blonde as Dean’s when he was younger. Adam’s nose, straight, a perfect replica of their father’s. What the hell?! And the way the kid was looking at him like he was _hurt_ by Dean’s behavior.

“Adam,” he tested the youngster’s name again. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to … I gotta speak with Sam privately a moment.”

The boy did a half pout, half sigh. It reminded him so much of teenage Sam it unnerved him. “Big brother stuff,” Adam huffed in a long-suffering manner.

Dean rose and headed for the door, motioning Sam to follow.

“What’s going on, Dean?”

“Sam. I … I don’t remember Adam. We don’t have another brother.”

Sam stared at him. “Dude, how much did you drink?”

“It’s not … I don’t think I drank at all, man. I don’t remember being here last night. We were …” But there was nothing. “You mentioned Dad. He … he’s alive?”

Sam paled. “Yes. I mean … You know something about Dad you haven’t said?”

“When … what year is this?”

“What _year?_ 2005\. God, Dean. What is the last thing you remember?”

“We were on a case, I think. There were strange things.” He flashed on a giant talking teddy bear. Okay. Maybe he really had been drinking.

He shook his head to clear it. Felt like the only thing he could be sure of right now was his name. Dad was alive. Why did this not sound right?

Sam was looking at him with a worried expression. “Sam? Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sure, I’m not the one who doesn’t remember our brother.” Sam’s lips pursed in that I-need-to-figure-this-out look. That felt reassuringly good. It felt like his kid brother. Well, one of them.

As if reading his mind Sam said, “We should go back in. You’ve gotta tell Adam it’s okay. Kid worships you, man. More than Dad, more than me … whatever you remember … you _should_ know that.”

Dean nodded. He had a little brother who’d worshipped him once. But he didn’t remember it being Adam … He looked into his brother’s eyes.

“Can you do this right now, Dean? I need to research what’s happened to your memory … we can put looking for Dad on hold a day if you need us to, I just hate to let the trail get cold … But whatever you need, man. Just tell me.”

“Nah, I’ll be okay. I remember you just fine, whatever’s missing is centered around Adam …” That wasn’t completely true, Dean realized. He knew Sam, yet something was registering as _different,_ like he knew a different Sam, but how could that be possible?

Adam approached them the instant they entered the room. “We okay?” he asked his brothers.

The kid’s face held a naked plea. Despite the confusion his heart softened. Meeting the teenager’s eyes he said, “Yeah. We’re fine. Now why don’t you and the Jolly Green Giant go out and scrounge me up some coffee.”

The request made Adam light up. “Sure, Dean. I can go alone, Sam doesn’t …”

Dean and Sam shared a look and Sam accompanied Adam out the door.

Alone, Dean showered and dressed, studying himself in the mirror as he shaved. Did he look … younger? He told himself it wasn’t possible. Time travel was sci-fi movie fantasy stuff. Worked for James Cameron but not in the real world. And truth be told it didn’t work all that well in The Terminator given the paradoxes you could ride a truck through. Although the truck scene with Arnold was wicked good.

His brothers were back when he emerged from the bathroom. _Brothers_. Didn’t sound right and it bothered him that he thought this. Memory loss like this … what could have caused it? Taking a sip he appreciated the warm jolt. Black and sweet. Kid knew how Dean took his coffee, all right.

“Hey … guys … where are we exactly?” Dean asked.

Concern flickered on Sam’s face again. “Blackwater, Colorado. Dad’s coordinates.”

“The Wendigo?”

“Dad didn’t … how do you … what makes you think this is about a Wendigo?”

“A Wendigo. Really? Cool,” Adam chimed in.

Both his older brothers gave him a stern look.

“Wendigos are dangerous, kid. Not cool. It could tear you apart and eat you before your heart stops beating.”

“Dean. Ease up.”

He sighed. Why was this so familiar? Like they’d done this before. Something stuttered through his brain.

“Sam? How long has it been since … Jessica’s funeral?”

“Who?”

“Jess. Your girlfriend. Stanford … The fire.”

Sam looked at him blankly.

“You didn’t just watch your girlfriend burn on the ceiling like … like Mom … in your apartment in Palo Alto?”

“Dean, we’ve never lived in Palo Alto. I don’t know a Jessica. Now you’re remembering things that never happened?”

“Stanford. Prelaw. You were in school until I came to get you to tell you about Dad.”

“Dean.” Sam was talking very slow and matter-of-fact like he was explaining to a senile old man … and trying to not show how much Dean was unnerving him. That was Adam, not me, we went to get. Kate is furious. And I’m not totally convinced she’s not right.”

“Yeah. Adam doesn’t belong here.”

“What? No. No way. We’re going to find Dad together. You promised. He’s my dad, too,” Adam whined.

Dean sat on the bed and put a hand to his head. It was insane. He had entire events, days, people, floating around his brain. But not this … boy … who was supposed to be his brother. Except … it also felt … true.

“You didn’t go to college?” he asked Sam.

“No, man … how could I … you and Dad needed me.”

He looked hard at Sam. “But you wanted to.” Not a question.

Sam looked away. “Adam will go. We’ll help him out. He’s the smart one, anyway.”

Dean knew Sam was lying. Sam was the one who’d made good grades, who’d worked his ass off to get into college. And Dean had taken him away from it, happy _selfish_ to have his brother back with him, riding shotgun. Except the picture of Sam in the passenger seat made him anxious, worried. No time for this. There was a job to do. And he _knew_ what it was.

“There’s a kid missing in the woods. His sister is gonna start a search for him.” Dean couldn’t sit a moment longer. “Can’t let her go alone. Maybe this time we can stop her idiot guide from becoming Wendigo chow.” His hands were packing his duffel without the need for conscious thought.

“Civilians? That’s never a good idea. Besides how do you know--?” Even as he questioned, Sam was starting to gather his own things.

“I know.” He looked at Adam. Slight, bouncy. Eyes that couldn’t hide a thing. So like Sammy it made his heart ache.

Adam disappeared into the bathroom and Dean took a moment to find out more that he should already have known.

“How old is he?”

“Fifteen. You really don’t remember?”

“Not a thing. Fill me in quick.”

“Dad met his mother, Kate, in Minnesota. She’s an ER nurse, patched him up. He didn’t know when he left that she was pregnant. Anyway, he passed back that way a year later and learned about Adam. That’s when he told us. I was only eight. You were, what, twelve? After that we’d get together when we could. Birthdays, holidays, you remember, whenever Dad got banged up he’d go back … Dad and Kate never really … but they tried to make us a family in their own way. You and I taught the kid the ropes when he got old enough.”

“He hunt with us?” Dean asked.

“A little. Last summer for the first time for real. Kate isn’t that cool with it. She’s livid now. She was a hair away from calling the police when Adam left with us. But he wouldn’t budge. Had to come with us. She finally caved. Can’t really blame him, it’s … Dad.”

“His mother’s right, Sam. I don’t mean about the cops but he shouldn’t be here. Kid’s gonna get hurt.”

“I can take care of myself!”

They hadn’t noticed Adam standing there. Dean wondered how much he’d heard.

“Adam ….”

“No. Dean. You claim to not even know me. So … it’s not up to you. Sam, you said you understood that I need to help find Dad.”

Kid wasn’t crying but his voice broke. Fifteen. Should be home with his mommy, not about to traipse into a monster’s lair.

Sam approached Adam. “Dean’s confused. When we find Dad he’ll know what to do about that.” He threw his arm around his younger sibling. “Till then we stick together. We’re family. That’s what family does.”

Dean gazed at both his younger brothers. Family. Why did it feel like a hole in him was filled by Sam’s certainty?

He approached Adam from the other side and put his hand on the boy’s other shoulder. “Even if some of the details are fuzzy, I know you’re my brother.”

Sam met his eyes above the shorter boy’s head. It felt so right it hurt. He didn’t remember the last time he’d felt this close to Sammy. Bah. He shook it off.

“Okay ladies, enough of this chick flick nonsense or I’ll start growing breasts.”

Adam laughed, high and squeaky, so like Sam. “You already have man boobs,” he teased.

Dean laughed, but looked down at his lean torso for a second just to be sure.

* * *

“Tell me again Dean, what are we doing here? What’s our cover? This isn’t the way Dad—“

“Dad’s not here,” Dean said more harshly to Sam than he’d intended. “Hailey’s cool. Trust me.”

An attractive young woman opened the door. Huge blue eyes and wild dark hair. Impossible to say how he’d known exactly what she’d look like. It was a memory coming to life.

“Can I help you?” she asked warily.

“My name is Dean Winchester. These are my brothers, Sam and Adam. We understand you have a brother gone missing up on Black Water Ridge.”

She nodded but didn’t say anything. Her already huge eyes grew even bigger.

“Our Dad is missing, too. We believe he’s in the same area. Ranger Wilkinson told us that they couldn’t help us for another forty-eight hours. Seems like too long to wait, don’t you think?”

Hailey looked him up and down appraisingly. She nodded toward the Impala. “That yours?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice car.”

And just like that he remembered why he liked this girl. She measured them all with her eyes for another second and then invited them in.

“So if Tommy’s not due back for a while, how do you know something’s wrong?” Sam said.

“He checks in every day by cell. He emails photos, stupid little videos … but we haven’t heard anything in over three days now.”

“Could he have forgotten?” Adam asked.

“No. He wouldn’t do that,” Hailey’s little brother Ben snapped.

Hailey put a reassuring hand on her brother’s shoulder. “Our parents are gone; it’s just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other.”

She played Tommy’s last message for them.

Sam leaned toward Dean and whispered. “How do you know he’s just not lost … I mean …”

“Hailey … Do you mind forwarding that message to Sam? He might find something that could help with the search.”

“Sure. Look, I can’t sit around here anymore, so I hired a guide. I’m heading out in the morning and I’m gonna find Tommy myself. Do you want to join us and look for your father?”

Sam started to protest but before he got more than half a syllable out Dean said yes.

* * *

They settled in at a back table at Harvey’s Diner. Sam and Adam, both with a laptops, each tackled part of the problem – Sam manipulating the video from Tommy, Adam researching the history of the area. Dean had to admit his brothers made an efficient team. Frankly, he wasn’t sure how needed he was.

“There’s definitely a pattern,” Adam said. “In 1982, eight people vanished. They chalked it up to a grizzly attack. And again in 1959, and again before that in 1936. Every twenty-three years. Like clockwork, as Dad would say.”

“Nice work,” Sam said to Adam who smiled.

“Yeah, good job,” Dean agreed quickly and watched Adam practically glow.

“I found something,” Sam announced.

“A shadow pass by the tent?”

Sam started. “How in hell did you know that?”

“It’s a Wendigo, Sam. A mean mother so we have to be extra careful.”

“Then why did you agree to let that Hailey girl and her little brother, no less, come along?!”

“Because there was no way short of handcuffing her to her … “ He didn’t like where that mental image was taking him. “There was no way she wouldn’t go. It’s her brother out there.”

“Hunting the Wendigo’s not enough? Now we gotta babysit, too?”

“Look if it were up to me I’d be doing this by myself.” Both Sam and Adam shot him a nasty look. “But that’s not an option either. So stop bitching and help me keep these people safe. It’s what we do.”

* * *

Despite Sam’s disapproval, Dean let Adam have a beer when they returned to the motel.

“Quit being such a mother hen,” Dean scowled.

“I promised Kate …”

“Yeah, yeah … except Kate’s not here and the kid’s gotta grow up sometime.”

Adam looked at him with adoration. After a second even Sam smiled at him and lightened up, grabbing a beer of his own. Dean took over the remote as was his due as eldest and flipped channels madly. Glancing over at Sam, he expected a sullen stare and silent chastise. Instead, his brother smiled at him again and raised up one knee to lean the bottle against.

Why should being relaxed feel so odd? Dean kept expecting to have to walk on eggshells, but why? This was Sammy. Pain in the ass, sure, but _you’re my brother, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you._

The beer and the stress must have worn out Adam because Dean heard a soft snore from the room’s third bed. He and Sam shared a soft look as they glanced over at Adam. Odd, having another baby brother. He and Sam now shared the burden of protecting someone. Felt lighter somehow. Made no sense because he still had to take care of Sammy, that was his job, his responsibility always. And he didn’t mind. Never did, not really. Even when he told himself he did … part of him knew he wouldn’t trade what he had for anything. Is that what Sam felt toward Adam? Was this the difference he sensed in Sam? _Difference from what?_

Head spinning, he couldn’t really concentrate on the television. “Want the remote?” he asked Sam.

Sam stared at him like he’d grown a second head. Dean turned the TV off.

“We gonna talk about your memory loss?” Sam asked.

“Nope.”

“Dean,” Sam whined.

Yawning as loud and obnoxiously as he could he turned away from his brother and scrunched into his pillow. “Maybe when I wake up tomorrow I’ll forget you, too, and be able to finally get some rest.”

“Jerk.”

“Bitch.”

They were quiet a moment. “Dean?”

Sighing he turned back, feeling Sam’s eyes burning into him from behind.

“When we find Dad, he’ll know what … I mean, you might need a doctor.”

And there it was again, shining out of his brother’s eyes. Swallowing hard Dean replied, “Sammy. I’m fine. Got too close to some red kryptonite and it fried my brain. All will revert to normal. Always does.”

His brother seemed mildly placated. “You know, I’m … here for you, man.”

“Yeah.”

Despite the millions of reasons he should be worried, Dean dozed off feeling more content than he’d remembered in years. Decades, even. And _that_ really made no sense.

 _The teddy bear is huge and very sad. Poor sod’s drinking heavily and turning to skin magazines to find the meaning of life. Not that one couldn’t find the meaning of life in_ Busty Asian Beauties _, but it’s harder if you’re a giant stuffed animal. Now the invisible boy – he has the right idea – why settle for ink when you could have the real thing right in front of you in the ladies locker room? He and Sam_ older _,_ somber, serious, Sam, who keeps secrets that are bad _are walking through a town gone mad and they don’t laugh. Laughing isn’t something Dean does because he doesn’t deserve … Evil, unadulterated and fiery rises up to meet him in vicious lashes, tearing his skin off his body until his bones crack under the whip and it doesn’t stop, will never stop …_ just say yes _._

 _A pretty girl sits with a homely geek and she pours herself over him like syrup on pancakes and Dean thinks for just a second maybe she sees beyond the ugly beyond the scars that aren’t there anymore but it hurts, it hurts so much and Castiel help me … make it stop. His mother is there only she’s young_ hot _and so like him. A hunter. Broken before she can …_ No…

 _There’s a magic coin in a wishing well where a little girl wanted a bear playmate because she was lonely and the bear shot himself in the head and he and Sam_ liar _are lying to this little girl that they can make it better when no one can make him better because no one can understand what he saw, what he feels, what he did._ Freak. I’d hunt you Sam, I’d want to hunt you ** _._** _Monster hunting monster because he isn’t any better_ … You don’t think you deserved to be saved? _Sam. Holding him, because it’s the only good thing his mind can latch onto. But no matter how hard he holds on a dark-haired woman with pitch black eyes is laughing at him taking away Sammy_ his brother _and he watches and can’t do anything can’t move._

_Sam holds the coin and says I have to take the wish back and Dean thinks what wish? Except now he’s running and invisible evil is after him and he trips and razor teeth tear at his flesh and it hurts so much he needs he needs … Sam, SAM …_

“Whoa, Dean, you okay?”

Two sets of eyes -- one hazel, one blue – hover above him, clearly concerned -- Dean doesn’t think he can look into them any longer without losing it.

“Yeah. I’m … fine. It was a … dream. Sorry I woke you.”

“You were yelling, Dean, calling for Sam.”

“It’s okay, really. Relax ladies.” Dean looked at the bedside clock. “Might as well get started. We got us some monster to mash.”

**Part 2**

The one person Dean wasn’t looking forward to meeting for the first time _again_ was Hailey’s guide, Roy. Immediately the guy got on his nerves.

“You’re going hiking dressed like that?”

“I don’t do shorts Ranger Smith,” he snarked in his best Yogi Bear imitation. Wasn’t that good but apparently the guide got it.

“You think this is funny? It’s dangerous backcountry out there, her brother might be hurt.”

“Believe me, I know how dangerous this could get. We just wanna help Hailey find her brother, that’s all.”

“Our Dad, too,” Adam snapped. Instinctively, both Sam and Dean stepped in front of Adam, who huffed angrily.

The hike was long and mostly uneventful. Dean watched his step remembering Roy had stopped him from stepping in a bear trap. Dean pushed the puzzle of how all this could have already happened to the back of his mind. He couldn’t afford to be distracted by déjà vu until the Wendigo was flambéed.

“Roy, you said you did a little hunting,” Dean asked without interest. Dean was a hunter. What Roy did was slaughter innocent critters. Not that he was some sort of tree hugger. But he was a believer in picking on someone his own size. Or in this instance, about four feet bigger, but hey, it was all the same idea.

“Yeah, more than a little.”

“Uh-huh … What kind of furry critters do you hunt? “

“Mostly buck, sometimes bear.”

“Tell me … Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?”

Roy turned to give him a nasty look but was stopped short by Dean plucking the other man’s walking stick right out of his hand. “What the--?”

Dean snapped the trap with the stick. The noise reverberated causing everyone to stop and stare. “Bear trap,” Dean said, matter-of-fact. The other man’s face was a delightful blend of surprise, awe and disappointment. This having omniscience was a rather cool thing.

They trekked on. Roy took lead. Dean knew they were safe, for now, so he allowed it. Adam and Ben followed behind Roy, having started up some shy conversation. Turns out they’re the same age so talk of school quickly followed. Adam was talking about a road trip with his big brothers. The other boy seemed impressed. Sam followed them, his eyes alert and sharp, watchful. It felt good to have someone else on the lookout, alleviated the pressure of being responsible for everyone’s safety by himself.

Dean and Hailey brought up the rear. Mostly, she was silent, watching Ben. Dean felt her covertly studying him as well. “Okay,” she said suddenly as their eyes caught. “What gives? You’re hiking with a duffel bag. No provisions—“

“I got provisions,” he defended as he pulled out a huge bag of peanut M&Ms. That earned him a half smile.

“Is your father really hiking out here alone?”

He stopped to face her. “He might be here, we don’t know. These were the last coordinates he left us.”

The worry flooded her face. “Tommy’s never … I’ve never not known that he wasn’t okay. Not like this.”

“Hailey. Your brother will be fine. I’ll find him. I promise.”

“You sound so …”

“That’s ‘cause I am. Trust me.”

Roy called out suddenly, “This is it … Blackwater Ridge.”

Sam asked to see Roy’s GPS coordinates. They matched the one’s in Dad’s journal. Adam and Sam looked around almost as if they expected to see their dad appear from behind a tree. Dean knew better. In fact, he was remembering more and it was getting harder to hide the uneasiness any mention of Dad gave him.

Dean walked in the direction he knew Tommy’s campsite lay. Roy followed after him huffily. The scene looked exactly like he saw it in his mind. Tent torn to shreds by something monstrous. Blood streaks everywhere.

Hailey ran up with Ben behind her and stopped shocked. “Oh my god.”

“Looks like a grizzly,” Roy volunteered.

“This wasn’t no grizzly,” Dean said quietly. He approached Hailey. “Keep your voice low. All of you. It could still be around.”

“What?” Hailey asked. “The bear?” She bent down to pick up Tommy’s cell phone, battered and bloody, the back ripped off. Tears slid silently down her face.

Dean put a hand on her shoulder. “He’s alive.”

“How do you …?”

“I do.”

Just then voices called out from the forest. “Help! Help us!”

Roy started to run in that direction. Hailey glanced at Dean and also took off, Ben right behind her.

“No!” Dean shouted. “It’s not them. Don’t …” But it was too late because they’d run out of sight. _Dammit_. Sam and Adam looked at him. Dean clutched his duffel as the three of them set out after their charges. Roy, Hailey and Ben were milling around a clearing.

“It sounded like it came from here, didn’t it?” Hailey said, disappointed. Dean shook his head.

“Everybody back to camp,” Sam ordered.

Dean knew what they’d find. Maybe he should have tried to salvage that idiot Roy’s pack since it had the fancy gizmos – satellite phones and GPS equipment. But he’d been worried for Hailey and there hadn’t been time.

“Our stuff’s gone?” Roy was saying incredulously. “Some nut job is playing games with us.” He pulled out his pistol. “Well, I’ll show him games.”

Sam walked over and used his freakish height to settle Roy down. “Put that thing away.”

“Kid, don’t worry, whatever’s out there, I think I can handle it.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about. If you shoot this thing you’re just gonna make it mad. We have to settle in before it gets dark.”

“One, you’re talking nonsense, two you’re in no position to give anybody orders,” Roy snapped belligerently.

Dean walked over to defuse the situation. “Relax.”

Sam was pissed now. “We never should have let you come out here in the first place, alright? I’m trying to protect you.“

“You protect me? I was hunting these woods when your mommy was still kissing you goodnight.”

Roy just waved a red flag in front of a bull. “Yeah? You don’t know jack shit about what this is. It’s a damn near perfect hunter. It’s smarter than you, and it’s gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we—“

“Sam. Enough. We need to keep these people safe.” Dean turned to his youngest brother. “Adam, you know what symbols to put on the ground?”

Adam nodded confidently. “I learned them last summer. When you and Sam and Dad were hunting the Wendigo back home. Don’t you remember?”

Hunting a Wendigo in Minnesota? Sure, he remembered that. This boy? Not so much. Dean shook the thought away.

“Roy, it’s going to be dark soon. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We’ll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to make a safe camp as fast as possible.”

“How?” Hailey asked, one arm wrapped protectively around her little brother.

Adam paused , looked up from inscribing lines around the wrecked campsite. “These are Anasazi symbols for protection. The Wendigo can’t cross over them.”

Roy laughed. “Right. The monster that eats people and moves faster than light.”

“Nobody said faster than light, asshole, nothing moves faster than light.” Adam retorted.

“Adam,” Sam warned. “Finish the symbols. I’ll get some on the trees. Ben, can you get a campfire going?”

Dean watched as Sam took charge and gave everyone a task. He knew that this wasn’t how it had gone down the first time. Then, his brother had bitched about hunting the Wendigo, had wanted to get everyone safe and abandon the hunt. This Sam reminded Dean … of himself.

He looked over the preparations but knew that they were well done. Both his brothers had been paying attention to Dad’s lessons.

“Nice work Adam,” he said. “Dad taught you well.”

Adam looked at him. “Dad didn’t teach me the symbols. You did.”

Dean saw the hurt flutter in the boy’s eyes just as Sam approached. “Of course I did,” he said quickly. “It’s just that Dad taught me, so in a way …”

The save was lame but seemed to work. Sam put his hand on Adam’s shoulder again. “Great job,” he said. The affection between them was like a live wire. And damn if Dean didn’t suddenly feel the urge to get into a group hug.

Before he started singing falsetto he walked away from them.

In the distance the Wendigo tried once more, “Help me! Please! Help!”

Immediately Dean turned to Roy on the far side of the fire. “Don’t listen. It’s a trick. Stay here. No matter what. Stay here.”

Without answering, Roy raised his pistol.

“No!” Dean shouted but it was too late as Roy fired.

“I hit it,” Roy shouted and started to run into the forest.

“Roy, no! Roy!” Dean shouted. Dammit it was all happening too fast. And Roy wasn’t listening and now he was going to …

He turned to Hailey, Ben and Adam. “Don’t move. Adam – take care of them. Keep them inside the protected area.” He hesitated leaving the kid alone. Saw Sam’s same hesitation before they both ran after Roy.

“This way,” he yelled to Sam. “Maybe, if we get there fast enough we can stop …”

Roy stood in front of a tree looking up. As they approached he said, “I think it’s up in this—“

Dean staggered back, pulling Sam with him. The creature moved so fast you couldn’t see it, but in an instant the devouring sound filled the formerly quiet space as Roy’s last screech faded away. Bits of him started dropping down like someone burst a kitchen garbage bag in the sky.

“Dean,” Sam warned. “We have to go. Now.”

Dean stood there aware of his brother’s panic, knowing he needed to get Sam to safety but unable to move. Even though he’d known exactly what was going to happen he hadn’t been able to save Roy. Regret washed over him like acid rain.

“Dean!” Sam shouted again, snapping him out of it.

They ran back to the campsite.

Hailey looked at him questioning. At his silent head shake she drew her brother closer to her and held him tight.

They were all scared. Rightfully so. Sam checked all of Adam’s symbols even though they were perfect. He drew a few more on some trees for good measure. Hailey tended to the campfire and they hunkered down for what was going to be a long night. The creature passed by a few times, faster than the wind, ice cold and calculating, looking for a chink, a gap, any weakness it could exploit.

Sam pulled Dean aside, watching Hailey and Ben and Adam speaking softly near the flames.

“Dad’s not here. I mean that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?”

Dean had known beyond a doubt that their father wasn’t going to be here. But he couldn’t tell Sam that.

“Yeah you’re probably right. To tell you the truth I don’t think Dad’s ever been to Lost Creek.”

Sam’s face scrunched in annoyance. “What’s he want us to do, Dean? Why the cryptic messages, the coordinates? Doesn’t he want us to find him?”

How to explain this when he barely understood their father’s intentions himself. “I think he wants us to continue where he left off, you know, saving people, hunting things. The family business. That’s why he left us this.” Dean held up their father’s journal. “This book. This is Dad’s single most valuable possession. Everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he’s passed it on to us, Sam.”

“Are you saying he doesn’t want us hunting with him any longer?”

“No. That’s not … “

“Because I can’t just pretend he’s not missing, Dean … I have to find Dad. I have to know … “

“Sam, we’ll find him, I promise. Listen to me, you’ve gotta prepare yourself. I mean this search could take a while, you gotta have patience, man. And, truth is, I don’t know how long we can keep Adam with us.”

“I know. He’s missing school. It’s just … well, you were there, Dean, you know how he feels about this. He’s a Winchester, Dean.”

The truth of this struck Dean like a blow. And Winchesters don’t give up on each other. Ever.

As if sensing that he was the topic of conversation Adam walked over. “We … gonna be okay?”

Dean spoke quickly. “Yes. Absolutely. We’re safe for the night.”

Adam looked at both his brothers. “I’m scared,” he admitted. “How do you … you, Dad, Sam … you do this all the time. How do you do it? Keep it together? Not just run away and say the hell with it.”

Sam looked at Dean as if expecting him to explain.

“Well for one … them.” Dean looked over at Hailey and her younger brother. “We’re going to get their brother Tommy back. I won’t lie to you kid, it hasn’t been easy. I mean there are times I wish … But I figure our family’s already screwed to hell; maybe we can help some others. Makes things a little more bearable. I’ll tell you what else helps. Killing as many sons of bitches as I possibly can.”

This drew a smile from both his brothers. Adam was messing with something between his fingers.

“What’s that?” Dean asked.

Adam looked perplexed a second and then noticed his own actions. “Oh, this. Just that old lucky coin Sam gave me ages ago. I always fiddle with it when I’m …”

The Wendigo choose that moment to cry out again, trying to lure them out of their protective circle. This time he used Tommy’s voice causing Hailey and Ben to jump up.

Dean strode over to them. “No. It’s not Tommy. The Wendigo’s trying to draw us out. Just stay cool, stay put. It’ll be alright.” He stared hard at Hailey. “I promise.”

The shouting continued for some time, each pain-filled yell in her brother’s voice causing Hailey to shut her eyes in pain. If that had been Sammy’s voice … Dean was a bit amazed at her strength.

Eventually the Wendigo got bored. The forest became silent, with only the occasional night critter skittering by. Dean and Sam had taken shifts. Dean had slept a little. Just like last night he remembered odd snippets of dreams all twisting together so wildly it was impossible to make out any pattern. The last fragment he remembered was running as something invisible chased him snarling. He woke up to see Sam looking down at him steadily.

“Been quiet. Okay if I stretch out a bit?”

He shook the disorientation _fear_ out of his head and rose quickly. “Sure.” Adam and Ben were lying near each other. Hailey was on the other side of her brother. Seemed like they were all asleep. “Rest. I’ll take watch,” he told Sam.

Gathering some branches he stoked the campfire to keep them all warm and then took up a position with good visibility some feet away. Back to a big tree covered with protective symbols he scanned the dark woods carefully. Quiet, just as Sam had said.

A movement near the fire drew his attention. Hailey stretched and looked around quickly until she spotted him. She approached slowly but purposely.

“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked her.

She shook her head. He waited, sensing she had something to say. “Are you sure … about the Wendigo wanting to keep Tommy alive?”

Earlier he’d explained to both her and brother all they knew about Wendigos. How they were human at one point but fell to eating human flesh to survive. It changed them, altered them until they were consumed with hunger … with the need for more human meat. The consuming of humans stripped away their humanity until they became the creature that they were hunting now. He fought back the worry that it could be debated exactly who was hunting who.

“More than anything, a Wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years, decades, at a time, but when it’s awake it keeps its victims alive. It stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. It’s keeping Tommy somewhere dark, hidden and safe. We’re gonna track it back there and get him out.”

“And only fire can kill it.”

“Yep. We’re gonna torch the sucker,” he said with extra cheer.

Hailey looked up at him, the need to believe etched in her face. “How do you know about this stuff?”

“Kind of runs in the family.“

“Your father, who is missing, he’s a hunter of these … things?”

“And other stuff.”

“And while he … you take care of Sam and Adam.”

“That’s my job.”

She nodded. It was her job to care for her brothers as well. It was why, even though he’d thought about it, he hadn’t tried anything with her … he saw her with a sad, grateful gaze as she walked away from him with her arms around her brothers.

A soft touch drew his attention back to the present. “Dean?”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you look at me like you know me? I don’t mean in a cheesy pick up line sort of way … it’s like, to you, we met before.”

He joked, “Maybe we did, in a past life.”

“And what happened between us … in that past life?”

It sounded like a come on, but it wasn’t … because her eyes were asking this as seriously as one would ask about anything they accepted as god’s honest truth.

Unnerved he answered honestly, “Nothing.”

She nodded as if this made sense. As if she, too, had already lived this entire adventure and knew of only one possible ending.

And then her lips were on his and what was and what was supposed to be collided in a rush of fear and heat and need that burned so fast he thought it would slay the Wendigo on the spot. Despite his body reacting fully he knew it could never go past this kiss, not with their families asleep right there. But she was soft and real and oddly it felt like he hadn’t had this for years, decades, like touching and warmth were undeserved because he was dirty, soiled, ugly, broken. He broke the kiss and sank into her hair, letting the sweet smell of her shampoo fight away another noxious odor that seemed to be part of his fiber.

She touched his hair gently. “Dean? You okay?”

“I … yeah …” He breathed in more of her scent and the weirdness starting dissipating “Yeah,” he repeated before bringing his lips back to hers and taking more of her heat into his limbs. God, she tasted good, earthy like the forest. Her tongue playing with his kept it all at bay, the monsters and the fear and the need to always look out for Sammy and his dad, who was missing … but not … and the brother who wasn’t. Hunger raced through him as he pushed her against the tree, thrusting his groin against hers despite layers of clothes and a trio of nosy little brothers who could wake up any second and get the show of their freakin’ lives.

“We … can’t,” she gasped although she was doing nothing to stop it.

Lips still on hers he took a deep breath and pulled away from her, putting one hand on each side of her face, lowering his forehead till it rested against hers.

“Hailey,” he said in a whisper, lips brushing the bridge of her nose. It was all he had, all he could give. She leaned in slowly and kissed his lips gently in return. Her way of saying it was enough.

They sat together then, Dean’s back to the tree, Hailey leaning against his side. She fell back asleep and he stayed awake pondering why kissing her was new even though he’d done this all before. Their kiss should have been wistful and short and goodbye. Maybe later, he thought, later there would be that other kiss. Be grateful, he told himself, that he’d been given a few moments of something pure in his screwed up existence.

**Part 3**

At dawn everyone staggered awake and gathered what supplies they could from the destroyed camp site.

“It’s settled into an old mine, not far from here. I can track it there, I think. I think I’ll remember … “

Sam stared at him. “Dean. You and Dad track this Wendigo before?”

“No. It’s just … gotta be something like a mine or a cave … someplace they can store their – food – and keep out of sight for decades at a time.”

Sam wasn’t completely satisfied by this but didn’t push further. “Let’s get this over with. Stay together.”

They hiked with Dean taking lead, Hailey by his side, the boys in the middle, and Sam at the rear. Dean stopped a moment to study a claw mark on a tree. Sam called out to him. “Over here Dean, another one.”

“Here, too,” said Adam.

Almost at the same time he and Sam reached for each other, words overlapping.

“Too easy.”

“Trap.”

A low growl rapidly reached full ferocity. Together Dean and Sam shouted, “Run!”

Dean grabbed Hailey’s hand instinctively and yelled at Sam to watch out for Adam and Ben.

“I got them!”

The roar of the monster was so loud now Dean thought it must be right on top of them. Hailey stopped abruptly and gasped, pointing. An arm, once belonging to Roy, was lying on the ground before her. Just beyond were several more body parts. “Don’t look,” Dean ordered and then _something’s wrong_ kicked him in the gut.

“It’s quiet,” she said, surprised, and then realized what this meant. “Ben. BEN!”

“Sam’s with them … it’ll … it’ll be okay,” Dean said trying for calm and reaching just below panicked. This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was supposed to get caught and Sam rescued him.

Tears filled her eyes. With all that happened this was only the second time he’d seen her cry. He could really like this girl.

“It took them.”

It wasn’t a question but Dean answered anyway. “Yes. Look. This could be good … I mean, I’ll track it now. It’s heading to its lair, we’ll find it. Find Sam and Ben and Adam. And Tommy. Hailey, it’ll be okay.”

He backtracked to where he’d last seen the others, then began circling, looking for a sign of which way the Wendigo took them. There were tangled footprints, Sam’s easy to discern from the younger boys’, and then nothing. Nothing askew to show that anything huge had passed. The dirt kicked up under his boots as he paced, desperate to find a clue. He expected, he didn’t know what. Something like a trail. _M &Ms_. They were his, in his bag. _He’d dropped them like breadcrumbs for Sam to follow._ Except that it hadn’t taken him and Sam didn’t have any candy to pull a Gretel with.

“Dean?” Hailey asked worried.

He ignored her and but stopped pacing. _He_ had been taken. And that meant the way was already in his head, he just had to tap it. Closing his eyes he visualized flying through the forest held in an ice cold vise.

“This way!”

They walked quickly now, not speaking, each lost in their own respective worry. A sound behind a tree up ahead made them stop short. He put his hand to his lips to keep Hailey quiet and indicated she should stay back and wait. Slowly he approached. His eyes widened when he saw Adam, blood covering his face, hunched against the tree, rocking.

Running over, Dean assessed his little brother, carefully checking over the wounds. Everything seemed superficial, scratches, sustained when falling. Hailey took a scarf from around her neck and started cleaning Adam’s face.

“Adam,” she said gently. “What happened?”

He focused on her, clutching Dean’s shirt as he spoke. “It … it dropped me. Guess all three of us were too … Dean …”

“I got you bro. You’re okay.”

Adam clung to him, red streaked tears falling rapidly now onto his tee-shirt. “It has Sam,” the boy kept mumbling over and over. Dean kept his brother in a half hug as the kid worked the fear out of his system.

“I know. And we’re going to go get him. We’re going to get all of them. And then we’re going to barbeque us some Wendigo burgers well done.”

* * *

The sign was about as ominous as you could get. _Warning! Danger! Do not enter. Extremely toxic material._ Toxic alright, Dean thought wryly. As in eat-you-for-dinner toxic. He found the entrance but now it was all uncharted from here. None of this had happened before. Good. Enough with the instant replay. This was the way he liked his hunts, think fast and get them before they even know you’re there. Of course, he would definitely have preferred not to have three civvies’ lives at stake and his brother in the line of fire. _Brothers_. Even with Adam right here, it was hard to keep that straight.

The boy had calmed down and taken on a bit of Sammy’s steely determination. He recognized that look, had seen it many a time in the past. _Not lately_. That look said keep away from my brother, you bastard. Why were there two Sam’s in his mind. This one … his Sam … and another?

He turned to Hailey, met her trusting gaze. Nothing could happen to her … he didn’t think he could … “Stay behind me. Adam, watch out for her.”

“Yes, sir,” his brother answered. They’d done this before, he realized then. Hunted. With Dad. Obeyed the rules and survived. They would do it again.

The tunnel twisted ahead of them, dark and foreboding. He pulled out his flashlight and did his best to be sure nobody tripped on anything. Made no difference when the floor suddenly gave out and he found himself tumbling down.

“Dean!” Adam shrieked, quickly pulling Hailey back away from the gaping hole.

He landed in a thud on what felt like hard gravel. After a second of orientation his mind filled in the gaps. Bones. Great, he’d found the Wendigo’s garbage shoot. He heard Princess Leia bitching to Han Solo about their great escape plan. Or was it the princess that had landed them in the garbage? Never mind, Winchester, think. This was familiar again … sort of. Standing tentatively he waved the flashlight around. There. Ben.

They were tied in a neat row to the ceiling. Ben. Sam. Tommy. He ran to Tommy first and felt for a pulse. Weak but there.

“Hailey,” he called out above him. “Your brothers are here. They’re alive. Both of them.”

Adam’s voice shouted down, “Sam?”

Dean approached his brother. Tried to wake him. Sam opened his eyes groggily. “Sam’s okay. Stay with Hailey, try to find a rope, but don’t go far and keep sharp.”

He pulled out his utility knife and cut Sam down first, then Ben. Together they carefully took Tommy down. Sam eyed him. “How’d you find us?”

“All those years of watching those Daniel Boone reruns paid off.”

Sam didn’t buy it but it didn’t matter because the faint growl coming at them from a distance stopped all further chatter.

Dean looked around frantically. The only way out was in the direction of the creature. He had his lighter fluid and matches but … wasn’t there something better?

“What are you looking for, Dean?” Sam asked.

“Roy’s pack. Did you see it?”

“Yes,” Ben said suddenly. He and Sam were holding up Tommy. He let go tentatively and let Sam take his brother’s weight. “Over here.”

Scrambling to the backpack, Dean rummaged until he found what he sought. Smiling, he twirled the weapon for Sam to see.

“Flare gun … that’ll work,” Sam said with a weak grin.

Loaded and ready, Dean felt better about the situation. Still he had an injured boy here and his youngest brother and Hailey were above ground and unprotected. And there was no easy way out of here.

Sam caught his attention. “Dean.”

From above Adam dropped down a rope. Dean smiled broadly. “Way to go kid. Sam, help me loop this around Tommy. Hailey, Adam, you’ll have to pull him up.”

A few minutes later he heard the sounds of Hailey hugging her brother, telling him that he was fine, he’d be okay.

“You next,” he said to Ben as the teen started to hoist himself up slowly. Above, Adam struggled to pull him up as Hailey tended to her injured brother.

Now only Sam and Dean remained beneath ground. They looked at each other a second. “Quiet,” Sam said.

“Yeah,” Dean replied holding the flare gun tighter.

“C’mon,” Sam said starting up the rope.

Dean started to follow as soon as his brother’s giraffe legs were out of the way. But the creature had other ideas. It appeared in a blur so fast he wasn’t sure what happened as he went flying.

“Dean!” Sam shouted. Above him he heard Adam yell, too.

Ice cold and moist -- the creature’s breath was near his ear and the hissing it made reminded him of other tendrils of frigid death whispering … taunting … He shook it off, didn’t understand these feelings. “Sam! Get them out of here.”

He didn’t know what Sam replied because Dean was suddenly hurled against the wall, knocking the wind out of him in a whoosh. The gun, he still had it, if he could just … then there was a scream and he looked up to see Sam in the air on the Wendigo’s back – Oh god. Sam’d jumped on it, that was why the monster had let Dean go. He looked up but didn’t see anyone else. He hoped to God that Adam had the sense to get Hailey and her brothers out of there, to safety. Knew he would. Their dad had taught him. It made no sense but he knew his youngest brother was okay because … because he was his brother.

The Wendigo reached back and ran a huge claw down Sam’s side causing him to lurch violently and fall in a bloody heap on the bone-covered dirt -- the sound hard and cracking and Dean didn’t know which breaking bones he was hearing, the ones already on the ground or Sam’s. Dean tried to stand but his leg was throbbing and the weight of standing caused him to groan. The creature stared at him, eyes like molten holes in what used to be a human skull. It seemed slow but must have taken only seconds, long enough for him to think _Sammy_ as he lifted the gun and squeezed the trigger yelling, “Eat this” and the monster burst into a cold, blue flame.

And like that it was over. The Wendigo was dead, he’d done it. Limping, he made his way to Sam who was lying very still where he’d fallen. Dean turned him over to survey the damage when his stomach felt like a watermelon had settled whole inside it. The cut was deep and bad. Parts of Sam’s insides were hanging out and the blood was pouring out faster than water from a faucet.

“Help! Adam, Hailey, can you hear me? It’s gone, the Wendigo, I killed it … but Sam’s hurt … we need help down here!”

He had his shirt off and was pressing it against his brother’s wound, desperately trying to slow the blood loss. Oh god … so much blood. Would Adam come? Would he think it a trick? Dean’d pounded it in them not to listen … _Sammy …_

“Dean?” Adam’s voice. “Dean!” Frantic now as he saw his older brother on the ground and met Dean’s panicked stare. Adam scrambled down the rope and was beside them in an instant.

“Sam. No!” Adam choked out.

Hailey followed Adam down the rope with her small first aid pack. They replaced Dean’s blood-sodden shirt with bandages from her pack, but it wasn’t enough. Dean knew this. Knew what a mortal wound looked like. Sam wasn’t going to make it. _But it didn’t happen this way._ He saw himself, Sam at his side, watching Hailey and her blanket-wrapped brothers as they walked slowly away from him. She’d turned her head one last time and met Dean’s eyes. Thankful. Wistful. And he’d turned to Sam, alive, and they’d driven away.

“Maybe we can find another way out and rig a stretcher,” Hailey said.

Dean barely heard her. He gently cradled Sam to his chest and sobbed like he didn’t remember doing since childhood because it didn’t go this way and he didn’t know what to do to change it. Adam put his arms around the both of them, tears running down his face. Something small and bronze flitted a moment before Dean’s vision, clutched between Adam’s thumb and forefinger. _Just that old lucky coin Sam gave me ages ago._

“Adam,” Dean said, eyes focusing, forcing himself back from the mind numbing terror. “Let me see that.”

Ancient. Babylonian. Dangerous. The flashes hit fast and hard now, bits of an impossible future mixed with snippets of his dream. Talking teddy bears and pretty women and invisible boys. Lashes and monsters and screaming and hellhounds chasing him, devouring him. Blood spurting everywhere. That was Sam, here, now, wasn’t it? But it didn’t happen this way. A Western set and a man with a knife running at Sam from behind and the same pain, the agony of watching his brother … His _brother_. He turned to look at Adam who was his brother. But could not be.

“D’n,” Sam sputtered weakly.

“I’m here bro. I got you.”

“Didja …”

“Yes. It’s gone. We’re going to get you out of here. Get you help.”

“A--dam.”

“I’m here, Sam. Hang in. We … we’ll figure out a way to move you and …”

“Adam. It’s okay. Help … help Dean.”

No. This wasn’t right. Wasn’t supposed to … Adam kept playing with the coin, wouldn’t let it go, almost as if it were the only thing keeping him …

“Sam,” Dean said firmly. “The coin. Take it back. Sam, do you hear me? You have to take it back.”

Adam looked at him confused. Sam was too out of it to respond. Images were moving in fast forward now, too quick to catch them all, passing in flashing intensity, threatening to make him sick. Sam at the center, _take care of Sammy_ , dying in his arms. Here. Not here. Dead. The failure, the pain, so unbearable he died himself. Demons talking to him, taunting him until he was _evil torturing sick disgusting._ A monster. Him and … Sam with powers, bad, dark. Demonic. _Sammy_. _If I didn't know you, I would want to hunt you._

He looked down and brushed the shaggy hair off the face of the person he loved most in all the world. Sam was dying because he’d been trying to get away from Dean. The realization made bile rise and burn like acid in his throat. He took the coin from Adam, who looked at him puzzled and sad beyond measure. This brother, Adam, he couldn’t keep.

“Sam. Listen to me. You made a wish with this coin. It’s cursed. This isn’t supposed to happen like this … You wished I’d stop treating you like a baby brother. I’m sorry. If I … I’ll try harder, I will. But Sam, you have to take the wish back. _Please_.”

A soft rustle made him look up. Hailey had put her arm on Adam’s shoulder. It wasn’t possible that she understood, but her instincts were spot on nonetheless. Dean swallowed, stared his youngest brother in the eyes.“Adam. I’m sorry. You _are_ our brother. I know this. But Dad never … he didn’t tell us. We don’t know you and you don’t know us. Sam has to take it back. You can’t …”

“Be your brother?” Adam finished brokenly.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated again lamely.

Turning back to Sam he placed the coin in his brother’s hand and cupped it closed with his own. He’d lost so much blood, they had very little time. _Sammy, please._

“Dean … I could never wish … Adam …”

Their little brother leaned into Sam and held him as Dean had done before. Agony wrenched through him in tiny shudders. “I love you, Sam. I always will. But do it. If it could save you. Do it.”

Hailey leaned down, rubbing Adam’s back. Dean met her gaze for the last time, held it long enough to say _thanks_ and _sorry_ and _if only_. Turning back he saw Sam shut his eyes. For heart-stopping moment he thought it was over. That Sammy was dead. And then it went black.

**_  
_ **

**_Epilogue_ **

Dean raised his head from the newspaper he’d been reading to spot his brother approach slowly. Slouching slightly – for what, to deal with that ungainly height? In his mind’s eye Sam was always a bit slighter, a bit shorter. He’d been Dean’s little brother his whole life, how was he supposed to suddenly change that? _And where’d that thought come from?_

“Well, the coin’s melted down. It shouldn't cause any more problems,” Sam said, interrupting Dean’s thoughts. Sam continued, “Audrey's parents are back from Bali. Looks like all the wishes are gone. And so are we.”

Rising from the bench Dean looked over at Sam. He wanted … he didn’t know what. His brother was right here. But not. And he missed him. Had been missing him since coming back from … Shuddering at the memories he shoved them down back deep like he had since Lilith made sure everything would live with him forever in Technicolor.

Maybe it was him. If Dean tried. If he at least stopped lying. _Yeah, like Sam’s been so truthful?_ But it had to start somewhere, didn’t it?

“You were right.”

“About what?” Sam asked.

“I shouldn't have lied to you. I do remember everything that happened to me in the pit. Everything.”

His brother looked at him expectantly. “So tell me about it.”

But Dean didn’t know if he could. He hardly even let himself think about it. “I won't lie anymore. But I'm not gonna talk about it.”

“Dean, look, you can't just shoulder this thing alone. You got to let me help.”

The words were right, yet, it’s curiosity he saw in his brother’s gaze. Morbid and guilt-ridden. Not what he … at one time his brother’s eyes had held … something else.

Sam couldn’t help. Not anymore and likely never because this was nothing that any words would ever make right. A fragment of a more innocent time burned in his heart. Not that Winchester and innocent lived in the same sentence much. But once he’d had a kid brother who worshipped him. Who he would die for. Even now, knowing … he’d do it again. For that boy.

Walking slowly off the pier and back to the Impala, they left Concrete as they came. Together. But alone.

**_fin_ **

**Author's Note:**

> beta: borgmama1of5


End file.
